SU SIFE wins three categories in national exposition

SU SIFE wins three categories in national expositionMay 20, 2009Amy Schmitzaemehrin@syr.edu

Syracuse University’s Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) won multiple times at the SIFE National Exposition, with more than 137 teams in attendance. The presentation team of six Whitman School students and one College of Arts and Sciences student traveled to Philadelphia for the May 10-12 exposition after winning the regional competition in April. During the three-day exposition, SU SIFE won:

• First place and $3,000 for the VacuGreen Project: During summer 2008, SIFE members interning with SIFE sponsor Macy’s in the product development division created an initiative to make Macy’s a more environmentally sustainable company. Their environmentally sustainable solution was vacuum sealing, used to condense items for packing and storage. The program has resulted in about 50 percent savings on freight when vacuum sealing, in addition to a huge reduction in packing materials.

• Second place and $2,000 for the Team Guatemala Project: In partnership with a fair trade organization in Guatemala, SIFE members helped train a group of impoverished Mayan women in the basics of jewelry making and the development of new products targeted toward the college-aged market with the goal of selling their pieces in the SU Bookstore. The first merchandise went on sale in February 2007; to date, more than $20,000 has been returned to this group of women to help improve their lives and the lives of their families.

• Third place and $1,000 for the Chadwick Residence Project: SIFE members tutor the residents at Chadwick Residence, a transitional home for women at risk, to prepare them for the GED exams. SIFE also offers independent living skills seminars to the Chadwick residents and others from local shelters in the area.

“Our SIFE team continues to shine,” says Whitman School Dean Melvin T. Stith. “What started in 2005 as a new club on the SU campus has blossomed into a competitive and dedicated team of students who implement some of the most engaging and relevant projects in the community and who win at nearly every competition they enter. The students have flourished into leaders under the guidance of Professor Amanda Nicholson, and Whitman is immensely proud of how successful, polished and accomplished the team has become.”

SIFE team members competing in Philadelphia include:

• Samina Noorani ’09 (College of Arts and Sciences)
• Dan Kinney ’10
• Matt Gartner ’12
• Sierra Fogal ’10
• Kelly Le ’11
• Adam Lindheim ’11
• Megan McDermott ’09

In its first year, the SU SIFE team organized relief collection efforts for victims of Hurricane Katrina and provided business consulting to Salina Shoes Salon in Syracuse’s South Side neighborhood. They also have ongoing projects teaching financial literacy in the City of Syracuse to ESL third- and sixth-graders, to students at Henniger High School and on the SU campus.

For more information, contact Amy Schmitz, Whitman director of communications, at (315) 443-3834 or aemehrin@syr.edu.